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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T. W. EATON.

HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR.

No. 508,470. Patented Nov. 14, 1893.

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(Nb Model.)

T. W. EATON.

a Sheets-Sheet 2.

HYDRAULIG ELEVATOR.

I 1 mm M I Patented Nov. 14, 1893.

e -rz far; jAW-zezd' WZafow- .To all whom it may concern:

UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS w. EATON, OF OHIOAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE EATON & PRINCE COMPANY.

HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,470, dated November 14, 1893.

4 Application filed fieptember 26, 1891. Serial No. 406,883. (No model.)

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. EATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement .in Hydraulic Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more especially to the automatic stop mechanism for hydraulic elevators and is intended as an improvement on those heretofore used in the following respects: As previously constructed in, most cases the automatic stop valve has been located between the main or operating valve and the engine where there is but a single passage, the fluid flowing through it in one direction while the car is being raised, and in the opposite direction While the car is being lowered. If the automatic valve thuslocated is adapted to shut off the supply or discharge valve entirely when the car reaches either limit of its travel, it will not allow any of the water to pass in the opposite direction and thus permit the piston to start on its return movement, and hence it has been customary in these constructions toprovide only a partial closure of the automatic valve as the piston arrived at the limits of its travel, depending either upon the operating valve or upon interposing some obstruction to the path of the piston to complete the stoppage and pre vent too great a travel. This provision allows a small supply of fluid to pass the automatic valve in the'reverse direction when the position of the main valve is changed to run the car in the opposite direction, the mechanism for moving theautomatic valve being so connected to the piston that the return movement of the latter'will gradually open the valve and so allow the car and piston to attain their full speed. 7 I

In my present invention I employ two distinct safety valves and locate them outside the main valve, one in the supply passageand one in the discharge passage, and by this change I attain the following advantages: In the single valve and passage construction when the car reaches its limit, the water, unless shut'ofi by the main valve, continues to flow through the safety valve and thus acts to force the piston and car beyond their proper stopping points, whereas with my new arrangement this continued and undesirable flow is entirely shut. off, without however preventing the desirable preparatory flow in the opposite direction. Thus for instance when the car reaches the top the supply is shutoff by the complete closing of the automatic valve in the supply pipe, while the valve in the discharge pipe permits a limited outflow preparatory to start-ing downward. When the car reaches bottom these positions are reversed that is to say, the automatic valve in:the supply is slightly open and that in the discharge is closed. I Iuthe drawings, which form a part of this specification and in which similar-letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is a side elevation of that portion of the elevator to which my invention relates. Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts given at Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isa vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 3 showing the valves in different positions. Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 3. I In the drawings A represents the pipe leading from the source of water supply, and B the discharge pipe. Between these pipes extend a cross pipe 0 forming a chamber for the main valve, the latter consisting of the heads a. b c and d mounted upon a common stem D. From the chamber 0 intermediate of the pipes A and B extends a pipe E leading to the elevator cylinder J, and the valve heads a b c and 01 control both the admission of water to and its exit from the cylinder.

For the purpose of moving the main valve when it is desired to reverse the current or of stopping its flow entirely, I prefer to employ devices similar to those shown in my Patent No. 446,620, dated February 17, 1891. I These consist of the auxiliary or multiple piston-valve shown in my said patent, and consisting of the heads G G G upon a stem G which is connected to the car of the eleports '11 2", which respectively connect-with the discharge and feed pipes. The cylinder f is located in line with the main valve, and it is traversed by a piston F mounted upon an extension of the stem of the main valve.

For the safety device I employ two hollow valves M and N, mounted upon a common stem 0 and stationed, the first in the inlet pipe and the latter in the discharge pipe, such location of the valves being similar to that in my said application Serial No. 348,705. These valves and their casings are novelin their construction. The valves themselves are hollow, being supported from the stem by arms k. They are also provided with external annular grooves or cutaway portions, as shown at e.

L represents the casing of the valve M. and K that of the valve N, and they are fashioned as shown. The pipes in which they are placed are, in effect, divided into two sections locatedin adjacent planes and connected by the valve casings. In the casings are the perforated shells m and n, the perforations being located opposite the two sections of the pipes, and in the case of the shell m the perforations extend beyond the limit of the movement of the valve M, as for instance at the right hand end of said shell, and in the case of the shell or the perforations extend beyond the limit of the movement of the valve N in the other direction, for instance as shown at the left of said shell n. The feature just referred to is designed to permit a small amount of water to flow into the apparatus when the elevator is at the bottom of the shaft to be used in starting the elevator, and to permit the outflow of asmall amount of water when ;;elevator reaches the bottom; nor to entirely shut off the escape when the elevator reaches the top, but on the contrary it allows a modicum of water to flow at each limit of its movement for the purposes mentioned.

I have illustrated the valves of the apparatus in three positions in the drawings.

In Fig. 3 the valves are shown in the position occupied when the elevator is at the bottom of the shaft and ready to start upward, the safety valve M being slightly open and the main valve being open to the full extent to receive fresh water. The discharge is wholly shut off both at the main valve and at the safety valve N.

At Fig. 4 the valves are shown in the position occupied by them while the elevator is on its upward movement or travel. In this figure the safety valves have been moved partially to the left, so that the valve M is open to a much greater extent than in Fig.3, while the main valve remains unchanged from Fig. 3.

In Fig. 5 I give the position of the valves when the elevator is at the top of its shaft. In this position the fresh water is completely excluded by the safety valve M, while a limited discharge is permitted at the main valve andvalve N. The course of the water is indicated in all these figures by arrows.

The stem 0 of the safety valves is extended so that said valves may be moved from the cross head P carried by the piston of theelevator cylinder J. At 0 0 are collars ad ustably secured upon the stem 0 and pivoted to such collars are arms Q pivotally oined to cams R which rock upon pivots 'r and are supported by standards S. These cams are so located as to cause their being rocked by the engagement therewith of the roller 19 carried by the cross head, the engagement taking place with one cam at one limit of the stroke and with the other cam at the other limit thereof. The cams do not differ either in construction or function from cams similarly located and shown in my said applicat on except in one respect. With the construction shown in the previous application the safety valves were not actuated when the elevator was started on its return movement either up or down until the roller 1) had traveled past the center of the cam, the actuation being caused in each case by its contact with the half of the cam lying farthest away from the starting point. This delay in the movement of the valves was objectionable because the full flow of water was not permitted as soon as needed, and hence I have made the outer half of each cam groovedas shown at T, such grooved portion being adapted to recelve the roller and insure movement by the cams in both directions, so that each will begin to rock as soon as the return stroke commences. I thus quicken the movement of the safety valves and obtain the desired flow of the water earlier than with my previous construction. The inner ends of the cams serve to cause a return to their normal positions when the roller 10 moves back.

The heads a and d of the main valve are not only employed to balance the valve but they perform a special function when the automatic safety valves are located between the main valve and the supply and drscharge. It frequently happens that the main valve requires to be moved when the supply pipe s closed by the safety valve and when there 18 no exit forthe water confined between the valve head I) and the safety valve. The provision of the head a, in this instance allows the main valve to be moved because the heads a and 2) form between them a moving chamber adapted to carry the water confined between them with them in the movement of the valve. 50 too, head (1 co-operates 1n a similar manner with the head 0 when the automatic valve in the discharge pipe is closed.

Ateach end of the casing of the main valve I provide adjusting screws 10 intended to regulate the length of the stroke of said valve. By means of these screws the flow of the water at the ends of the stroke may be rendered faster or slower as desired, and the speed of the elevator be thus regulated.

I claim- 1. The combination with a hydraulic elevator, of a safety valve located in the supply pipe and another in the discharge pipe, each of such valves being adapted to permit a small flow of water at one of the limits of the elevators travel, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a hydraulic elevator, of a safety valve located in thesupply pipe and adapted to permit a limited inflow of the water when the elevator has reached the bottom, and a safety valve located'in the discharge pipe and adapted to permit a limited outflow when the elevator has reached the top, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a hydraulic elevator, of a safety valve located in the supply pipe and adapted to permit a limited inflow of the water when the elevator has reached the bottom, and a safety valve located in the discharge pipe and adapted'to permit a limited outflow when the elevator has reached the top, both said valves being upon a common stem and operated from the piston head Q a said valves, the latter having perforations located beyond the limitsof the movement of the valves, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with the supply and discharge pipes of a hydraulic elevator, of hollow safety valves M and N having external grooves e, and casings and shellsm andn for said valves, each of such shells having perforations located beyond the limit of movement in one direction of the valve traversing such shell, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the safety valv or valves and the piston head of an elevator of double ended rockingcamsR actuated from the head and having grooved portions T at their outer ends, and means for carrying motion from the cams to the valves, substantially as set forth.

7'. The combination with separate supply and discharge water pipes of automatic safety.

valves controlling said pipes and a main or reversing valve located between said safety valves and the elevator cylinder, said main valve having the operating heads b and c and the balancing heads a and 01, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

' l V THOMAS W. EATON.

Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, EMMA HACK. 

